Laremy Tunsil made a big impact for the Houston Texans in 2019.
The former Miami Dolphins 2016 first-round pick earned his first career Pro Bowl, but the solution to the Texans’ left tackle problem also collected 17 accepted penalties, 14 of them false starts.
Tunsil knows the penalty issue is unacceptable and seeks to rectify the problem in his second season with the Texans.
“My main goal is to fix the penalties I had last year,” Tunsil said. “That was one of the main things I wanted to work on and work with [quarterback] Deshaun (Watson) this offseason.”
The Texans lost 90 yards due to Tunsil’s penalties alone. Houston finished with 892 penalty yards on offense, the 19th-most in the league. If Tunsil’s penalty yards were even cut in half, they would have gone ahead of the Baltimore Ravens for 22nd-most penalties last season.
“Moral of the story is just I want to improve,” said Tunsil. “I want to keep improving every year that I have. I’m going into my fifth year. I want it to be just one of the best seasons I ever had.
“Like, when I go into my sixth year, I want it to be one of the best seasons I’ve ever had. It’s just keep improving and keep doing things to help the team.”
The Texans are already getting one of the biggest boosts they have not seen since 2011 with the offensive line returning the same five starters. Tunsil is also benefiting from going to training camp with the Texans, even if it is an extended form that also functions as a mini-offseason with zero preseason games.
“You can already tell he’s a great player,” coach Bill O’Brien said. “He’s shown up every day, real technician, very athletic, very smart, works really well with [guard] Max Scharping on that left side.”
If Tunsil fixes his penalty problem, then the Texans will have a reliable side of their offensive line.
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